Page 117 of Maizy the Bear Charmer

“I take you home with me.” They’d left her car at her house but her neighbor had seen her leave with him. “And I’ll bring you home later.”

“And what about Cody and Heath?”

He sighed. He honestly hadn’t given it a lot of thought, trusting that things would just work out on their own. Heath’s belief had become his own. “Heath will be happy that you came over and sad that he missed you. Cody…”

“Cody will…what?”

He chewed his food in quiet thought for a minute. “This has been hard for him too, baby. I can tell how unhappy he is and I think he must feel a big burden for being the one to…”

“Break up with me?” she offered a little tartly as she pushed her food around her plate.

He reached out for her hand and stroked over the delicate bones and tendons, powerfully aware of how breakable she was, and yet how strong, too. “He’s a natural problem solver. I think that believing he had created the problem made it more painful for him. When Heath told him about seeing you the other day, and that he was sure it wasn’t over between us, Cody didn’t argue. I think he’d be very happy to see you.”

“That remains to be seen. And just so you know…” She looked down at her lap and frowned for second before she met his eyes. “I’m not going to just jump back into his arms like nothing happened.” She sounded very resolved but he could see that she’d struggled to even get the words out, as though she was unsure.

He released her hand when she tugged at it and he said, “Understood. Let’s take it one step at a time, baby. You done? I’m ready to get you home.”

She met his eyes and warmth filled his chest as she smiled and nodded. “Home. Yeah.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Fading sunlight flickered down on Maizy’s silky tanned skin through the wooden beams overhead. Spencer reclined in the big tub that was filled to the top, with Maizy lazing in his arms. Every so often, she squirmed and wiggled, rubbing against his erection and making him ache to be inside her.

“Spencer?”

“Hmm,” he murmured as he stroked her shoulder and upper arm.

“Will you tell me how you came to be in foster care, and how you met Heath and Cody?”

That subject definitely took the edge off his arousal but it was high time he explained his history. She had a right to know.

“My mother walked into the emergency room of a hospital in downtown San Antonio, in labor with me. She abandoned me there. All I’ve ever been able to find out was that her records, which listed a false name, indicated that she looked like she’d been living on the streets and she had signs of drug use.”

Her hand had wrapped around his and gradually tightened as he explained.

“A few years ago I talked to a nurse who worked there at the time and she remembered that my mother named me and held me for a few minutes and the next thing they knew she was gone. My records showed that my mom was a suspected addict and when I entered the system there was no one who wanted to adopt a baby with possible drug issues passed on from the mother.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Maizy looked so sad, he didn’t have the heart to tell her that the same nurse had told him that his mother had shown up at the hospital morgue a few days later, dead from a drug overdose. Strangely, at the time he’d heard that news, it had been painful, but along with the hurt had come a sense of closure. If she hadn’t abandoned him, he might be dead, too. He rubbed his fingertips against his forehead, willing the memory away.

“So I’m Spencer Ketchum, born to Jane Doe in 1977, father unknown. I went into foster care and was taken in by a family who cared for me until I was seven when that foster mom suddenly passed away. They had several foster kids and that dad just didn’t cope well with her death and we were returned to the state.”

“Do you remember her?”

“Vividly. She was nice. They let us attend her funeral but I don’t think I fully understood my situation until I was placed with another family that wasn’t as nice. I was beat on by some of the older kids and the mom and dad were too busy to listen or to help…or maybe to even care. I learned to watch my back.”

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